Michael Langston

Carbon dioxide is a natural component of the earth’s atmosphere. Plants breathe carbon dioxide and depend on it as a source of carbon, which is the basic element of life itself. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, yet it is often falsely regarded as such.

TO MY UNSEEN LOVE
by Michael Langston

I’ve never looked upon your face;
  I do not know your name;
And in some unseen distant place,
  I know you will remain
Forever kept apart from me
  Across both space and time;
I hope someday these words you’ll see,
  By chance that you will find
Within this old and worn-out book
  The fact so plain and true:
That all my life in vain I looked…
  In vain I searched for you.

I’d sit beneath the moonlit skies
  In summer’s warm night air
And dream of looking in your eyes,
  Of you beside me there;
And as I walked, in fantasy
  I gently held your hand,
But in the moonlight next to me:
  No one there did stand;
And if I could, I would have flown
  Across all time and space
And left behind my world I’d known…
  And you, my love, embrace.

The next time you see a comment on Facebook or X purportedly from a grassroots individual extolling the virtues of a vaccine, a drug, or some other corporate product or policy, be aware that it quite possibly could have been posted by an astroturf shill.

WASTED
by Michael Langston

I fear the ravages of time
Upon the youth that once was mine,
The growing lines across my face,
The failing strength I can’t replace;

But most I fear that I shall be,
Through all of time’s eternity,
A heap of bones lain in the ground
Where grubs and earthworms crawl around,
Whose sojourn in the world above
Was wasted…never finding love.

Diabetics and people in general should be advised to eliminate refined sugar and other high-carbohydrate foods from their diet in order to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. But unfortunately, this is not the advice typically given by medical authorities.

METAMORPHOSIS
by Michael Langston

Long ago in a forgotten land,
There stretched a beach of whitened sand
Where oft a maiden, young and free,
Would slowly walk beside the sea.

The sea breeze streamed through her long hair,
But no one else was with her there
Save sea gulls ranged in perfect flight
In sunset’s fading, ruddy light.

The mellowed sunlight lit her skin
And warmed her to her heart within
Till in the sea, the sun went down
As sea waves made their crashing sound.

As night approached and she walked back,
She dreamed of what she’d always lacked:
Beneath the shining stars above,
She dreamed of someone she could love.

Now underneath those very stars,
Upon a rock that stood not far,
There sat a man in this dark place
Who wore a frock to hide his face.

His face was marred; his heart was pure;
Much sorrow had he thus endured,
And only one thing he had known:
A life of wandering alone.

He’d watched the maiden in her walk;
To such as her, he dared not talk;
He couldn’t tell her what he felt:
That she had caused his heart to melt.

Atop the moonlit precipice,
He breathed a sigh and made a wish…
Not for himself as others do:
He wished that all her dreams come true.

When morning came and he awaked,
A sight caused his whole form to shake:
From out his clear-blue washing place,
Stared back a perfect, godlike face!

Now in that far-off, long-lost land,
Two lovers stroll the glistening sands…
Clasped together, hand in hand,
Beneath the place a bare rock stands.

Religious authorities have a long and sordid history of persecuting innocent people, beginning with the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. What could possibly be more evil than subjecting an innocent person to the horror of being burned alive at the stake?